Coverage

The spatial or temporal topic of the resource, the spatial applicability of the resource, or the jurisdiction under which the resource is relevant. Spatial topic and spatial applicability may be a named place or a location specified by its geographic coordinates. Temporal topic may be a named period, date, or date range. A jurisdiction may be a named administrative entity or a geographic place to which the resource applies. Recommended best practice is to use a controlled vocabulary such as the Thesaurus of Geographic Names [TGN]. Where appropriate, named places or time periods can be used in preference to numeric identifiers such as sets of coordinates or date ranges.

Spatial

Spatial characteristics of the resource.

Use this element to record geographic places associated with the resource. Such places include, but are not limited to, the location(s) depicted or discussed in the resource or the place in which the resource was created or published. However, generally record a place of the latter type in the Location element only if that place is deemed important for understanding the resource or providing its context within a given collection; otherwise, record the place of creation/publication in Description or Notes.

Location terms must come from a pre-defined thesaurus such as the Library of Congress Name Authority File (LCNAF), the Thesaurus for Geographic Names, etc. The project team will determine the appropriate thesaurus to use during its initial metadata meetings. Generally, multiple geographic thesauri will not be used within a single collection.

Enter terms exactly as found in the controlled vocabulary list, including capitalization, spacing, and punctuation. If multiple values are applicable, enter each separated by a semicolon space. In selecting among multiple places to record, generally do not try to be exhaustive; rather, choose the most prominently covered places or those considered most important.

It may be desirable to distinguish between different kinds of locations, in which case separate Location elements along with clarifying element names should be used (e.g. “Performance Location (Town),” “Performance Location (County),” etc.).

Use the Location element to record purely geographic terms. Do not record the names of organizations in Location, even if a geographic term is present in the name (e.g. University of Arkansas, Fayetteville); such names are recorded in the Subjects element when used topically. Moreover, LCSH terms may include geographic elements mixed with topical and/or temporal elements, but prefer to record such strings in the Subjects element too.

Fayetteville (Ark.)

Germany

Pointe Coupée Parish (La.)

Ozark Mountains

White River (Ark. and Mo.)